How do you explain smutty pictures of your children's favourite characters?

[Guyliner]

Dd is 8 and into superheroes. When she googles her favourite female characters she's often confronted with fan art from men way way old enough to know better. How do you explain the hyper sexualisation to your children when you see it to children or do you ignore it?

I've started saying it's from men who think women should look a certain way all the time but hope I'm not making it worse by being honest. She's not stupid and that there is a marked difference between the female and male character representation is obvious.

I once took her to a comic book store when she was 5 and the only 2 posters of Wonder Woman and Super Girl were of them engaged in sex acts.

Harley Quinn is an insane woman who kills people with a baseball bat. She's the jokers lover that's why she's famous.

She's quite cool for older teens but not 8 year olds!

I'm not a comic book person my self but Is HQ really that bad normally? And if so why have they used her on the children's films and products?

have you tried using Kiddle? a child version of google...

www.amazon.co.uk/Lego-DC-Superhero-Girls-Brain/dp/B072LWBZFM?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

She's in this and in all the films.

No. It’s not.

When you google “Harley Quinn” it’s clearly not.

You need to wise up and set appropriate controls in place. She’s 8. This on you. She needs not to be googling even with you right beside her, unless you have appropriate controls in place

Otherwise she will end up, with you right beside her, googling something that is, on the face of it, innocent, and seeing something you would rather you didn’t.

The internet is full of all kinds of stuff I wouldn’t want an 8 year old to see.

By the way. I’m disabled. I have arthritis in my hands. And dyslexia. I’m typing - slowly - on an old iPad with a cracked screen, and the pictures didn’t load until just there now after I posted my last comment.

Yes she's the most popular superhero female character ever. Mainly because they are all rubbish!

Sorry - total one trick pony here! I just reread your op and saw the bit about the posters

I think sticking with the chat about there being different versions of the same character for different audiences may be the right approach to take. We do discuss pornification of culture in social education but not until they are about 15. Before that we touch on it but not so explicitly.

I completely agree that the concept can be very confusing to children who have heard the term but don’t understand the wider concept

I would say “gosh, I’ve never seen dressed like that. She’d be very cold walking about like that”.

Or something similar.

@Bankofenglandfiver I don't know what you're getting from this exchange? Do you want to discuss feminism or representations of women in the media? AIBU is where you belong. You can call everyone a bad mother there. They love it. Run along.

@Passmethecrisps I think she missed the posters at the time, I shuffled her out and was pissed off that because she was there I couldn't have LOUD words with the owner of the store. This is why girls think they don't belong in comic book or game stores.

What the hell is your problem?

You were slack, and your kid saw something you didn’t want her to.

Instead of self reflection, and changing your own actions to ensure it doesn’t happen again, you on me?

I sure as fuck wouldn’t want my kid drawing pics of a clearly sexualised woman with big tits no bra tiny shorts clarried in tattoos who rattles about killing people with a baseball bat. I would deem that inappropriate.

We do discuss pornification of culture in social education but not until they are about 15. Before that we touch on it but not so explicitly.

Do you not feel that's too late?

This is why girls think they don't belong in comic book or game stores they don't really at the moment
Things are changing but very slowly. I love comics and computer games but the depiction of women is almost always shit.

This is Harley Quinn from the recent Suicide Squad film. When you google Harley Quinn, you’re going to get her.

Don’t know why they included her in the kids show - paucity of choice I expect.

All I can say is I didn't have that convo until they were about 15 and they are very savvy and well adjusted. But I am older and we just didn't sit at Google to do stuff when they were 8

she's often confronted with fan art from men way way old enough to know better.

Actually the majority of this type fan art is by women. And yes, I am talking about the sexualised ones.

That's horrendous giraffe but tbf we could have just about handled that. At least she's wearing a shirt.

The problem is it is so hard to get the timing right for a class of 30 kids. For all those for whom it is too late there are many whose parents would want them whipped out in a heartbeat for ruining their innocence.

We talk about consent and the language of sex and relationships between 12 and 14 and often that takes us in that direction anyway.

I completely agree with you that it is a complex issue which we do need to address as a society. I don’t have the answers sadly

But I am older and we just didn't sit at Google to do stuff when they were 8

I'm not sure making your kid a colouring book of their favourite characters as we did is actually this side of child neglect.

Of course it's not neglect! It's just silly! Harley Quinn is a very sexualized character and it's Google so...you can avoid this quite easily, not sure why you are so offended!

The problem is it is so hard to get the timing right for a class of 30 kids. For all those for whom it is too late there are many whose parents would want them whipped out in a heartbeat for ruining their innocence*

This is true.

@Fazackerley I googled a children's character. I know nothing of Harley Quinn besides the utter dross I've watched with DD. I am offended that posters are acting like I've googled Deep Throat with my kid.

Imagine googling Poohbear and then finding his schlong hanging out and finding out that he's basically a porn character.

Long before she was a children’s character she was an adult character.

And again it doesn't change the fact there are "sexy versions" of all the female characters.

But she was a sexy adult character! On the other hand I had no idea there was a kiddie version gateway drug

All the women superheroes are sexy. All the men are buff. That's literally what they are.